The call follows a rare visit to the US by DPRK Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kae-Gwan, who met with senior US officials last week. It was the first direct meeting between RPRK and US officials since the country pulled out of six-party talks in 2008.

In addition to the US and the DPRK, the six-party talks involved China, Japan, Russia and the Republic of Korea (RoK). The goal was nuclear disarmament on the Korean peninsula.

The DPRK has called for the resumption of six-party talks without preconditions before. The US and the RoK, however, have insisted on some tangible demonstration that the DPRK is serious about denuclearization.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said recently that the US hoped to determine in its meetings with the DPRK Foreign Minister whether the DPRK is ready to "take concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization."